Jerusalem: On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem both vowed to intensify their cross-border attacks, escalating concerns that the ongoing conflict could spiral into full-scale war.
Hezbollah leader Qassem declared that the Lebanese militia had entered “a new stage” of open warfare with Israel, while Netanyahu pledged to take “whatever action is necessary” to neutralize the threat posed by Hezbollah.
These declarations followed a week of fierce hostilities. Early Sunday, Hezbollah launched approximately 150 rockets, cruise missiles, and drones, according to the Israeli military, striking deeper into Israel than at any point since the group began attacks in October. This latest escalation followed a major assault on southern Israel by Hamas-led forces. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have been locked in a cycle of retaliatory strikes.
Israel’s military reported intercepting most of the rockets from Lebanon, though one struck the town of Kiryat Bialik, just north of Haifa, wounding at least four people, as confirmed by Israeli emergency services.
In a speech in Beirut’s southern neighborhood of Dahiya, Qassem warned, “What happened last night is just the beginning,” adding that Hezbollah would fight Israel from both expected and unexpected fronts. His remarks came during the funeral of two Hezbollah commanders killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday.
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Meanwhile, Israel launched airstrikes on southern Lebanon, killing at least three people and wounding four others, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health. The ministry also updated the casualty count from Friday’s Israeli airstrike in Beirut, raising the death toll to 45.
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Before Qassem’s remarks, Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s commitment to repelling Hezbollah to ensure that the tens of thousands of displaced Israelis could return to their homes in the north. The fighting has displaced more than 150,000 people on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border.
Netanyahu’s comments followed a series of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies that detonated across Lebanon last week, killing dozens and disrupting Hezbollah’s communications network. Israel has not claimed responsibility for these attacks.
